One Heart You Sing To
by caffinate-me
Summary: This one time, I was trying to figure out how to throw someone off the Empire State Building, and that movie Sleepless in Seattle had just come out. So many lonely women approached me, thinking I was their Tom Hanks. I got laid..." What if Beckett happened to be up there one time? Prompt from Lou (InkyCoffee)


Based on the prompt from the fabulous Lou: "This one time, I was trying to figure out how to throw someone off the Empire State Building, and that movie Sleepless in Seattle had just come out. So many lonely women approached me, thinking I was their Tom Hanks. I got laid..." What if Beckett happened to be up there one time?

A/N: Sleepless In Seattle came out in 1993 which would have made Beckett 13/14 at the time. Because of this I have adjusted it so that the movie would have come out in 1999 so she would have been 19 instead.

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, Sleepless in Seattle or Make Someone Happy, but I do hope this little story makes you all happy too. ;)

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One Heart You Sing To

 _Make someone happy._

 _Make just one someone happy._

 _And you will be happy too_.- Jimmy Durante

February 21, 1999

It was cold. The winter air nipped at the tips of Rick Castle's ears and nose while he peered over the ledge of the 86th floor Empire State Building observation deck. It was creeping toward midnight, a week after Valentine's Day. He should be home with his daughter but instead his gloved fingers are wound through the wide mesh, gripping the wire, testing its strength. The "suicide fence" had been erected after rash of people swan dived to their deaths in 1947. Wire webbing topped with long curved metal rods. It made it nearly impossible for someone to scale the wall and make it over without being noticed, let alone heave another person over. This was good for those who would regret the decision to take their lives halfway to the sidewalk but not so good for his plotline.

A woman smiled at him from the corner telescope, and he responded in kind. That new Tom Hanks movie had come out a couple weeks before and every single desperate woman had been stalking the observation deck looking for their own Sleepless in Seattle. The woman twirled her auburn hair around her fingers, and his eyes panned to her legs, appreciating how they went on for miles. He could already feel them wrapped around his waist, the way her breath would feel when she whispered in his ear, her lips against his neck…

Castle had been visiting the observation deck everyday for the past week, and while he still had no plausible way for Mr. Wilks to be thrown to his imminent demise, he had gotten laid five of the last six nights. Maybe tonight would make it an even half dozen.

"He would have needed help."

He tore his eyes from the silent conversation of flirty smiles with the woman on the other side of the deck and turned to find a pair of red rimmed ones peering up at him from under a crocheted yellow winter hat. He had always touted himself an observant person but he hadn't even notice the young woman sitting on the ledge near his feet.

"Excuse me?"

"You're trying to figure out how to throw someone off, right?"

"How did you…?"

"You mumble to yourself when you're thinking."

"I do?"

"Yes." She nodded, a small smirk crossing her lips, counteracting the grief pooling in her eyes. "And you've been here around this same time every day this week."

"You've been here too? I hadn't noticed you." Castle scratched the back of his head. She was gorgeous, the woman by the telescopes couldn't even compete, but young. So young. Too young to look so worn out on life.

She shrugged. "I blend in when I want."

"I doubt that."

She huffed out a laugh and pushed herself to stand, the top of her head reaching to just under his chin when she straightened to full height. "The deck is open from eight in the morning until two in the morning seven days a week. As expected, foot traffic is lighter late at night- most tourists have gone to bed or to a Broadway show. People with kids generally leave before dinner, and field trips are only done between school hours. That leaves the random couple on a romantic date, those looking for solitude, or in your case, Mr. Castle, someone looking to plot out a murder."

She shoved her gloved hands into her pockets, and a knowing smile spreads across his face. "You're a fan."

"I read the genre."

"The genre, huh?"

"You'll never get me to admit to anything more."

Castle belted out a laugh and took another step toward the quick-witted young woman with a shake of his head. "Fine. Well, you have me at a disadvantage-"

"Kate."

"Nice to meet you, Kate. Please call me Rick."

"Nice to meet you too, Rick."

"So, Kate, you know why I'm here, but what brings you up here tonight?" He made a show of looking around before peering back at her. "Romantic liaison, or hope of one?"

She huffed out a sound that could be mistaken for a laugh and the haze of grief that had been shrouding her seemed to fall away. "No. Just needed some space to think."

"So, you chose the Empire State Building? For space?"

Kate shrugged, one shoulder lifting toward her ear, and turned to look out over the city lights below them. "My mother loved it here. Said it always gave her peace."

Loved. The past tense didn't slip him by, but he only nodded and mimicked her movement, turning to stare back over the ledge. "So, two guys would have been needed to throw him over, but even late at night someone would have been bound to notice."

"Yep. It would be hard enough for a person trying to climb over on their own without being seen, nevermind lifting a body over. Unless they snuck in between two and eight."

"And how would they do that?"

Kate tilted her head to look over at him, and he caught a glimpse of a twinkle in bloodshot eyes, another brief reprieve from the sadness and exhaustion housed there. "You're the writer, you tell me."

She was enjoying this. Whatever grief had led her to come sulk on the ledge of the once tallest building in the world, to think about life, Castle swallowed a thick lump in his throat, or death, a renewed energy was building in her.

Castle snapped his fingers. "An inside job. One of the guards could let them up, or maybe the guard was the second man."

They turned to each other in tandem.

"He would have the codes for the elevators," she cut in, continuing the thought like it was his own. "Access to the security cameras. He would be the perfect partner."

Both took a step closer until they were toe to toe, hands shoved in pockets, Kate's head tilted up to look him in the eye.

"And potential fall guy," Castle finished with a grin.

Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, a image that bordered between adorable and seductive. "Wanna get out of here? Get a drink or something?"

He eyed the emblem of Stanford sweatshirt layered beneath her black peacoat. "Are you even old enough to drink?"

Castle's jaw clamped shut the moment the words escaped, his eyes closing with it. Wow, he was an idiot. When he dared to peek a look back at her she was just smirking at him, one eyebrow raised. "Do you really care?"

She inched further into his personal space, her body brushing against his.

Oh, he really wanted not to care, to be able to ignore the way she was trying to forget whatever pain had brought her here. He wanted to be able to pretend he hadn't notice the thought she had put into knowing how hard it would be to scale that fence, to fall from the other side. He was many things, but he wasn't that guy. He couldn't take advantage like that, no matter how drawn he was to her.

With a shake of his head he stepped back. "Actually I need to get home. Write."

For once it wasn't a lie, an escape. As nice as it would be to take this woman to bed for the night, it would be just that— one night. Fleeting. More damaging that good. But the words buzzing in his brain making his fingers itch, they meant so much more. She deserved to mean more.

She her eyes dropped on a sigh, cheeks burning red.

"Walk you down?" He prompted unwilling to leave her alone up here, grief stricken, alone and now rejected.

She nodded, studying the way the sole of her leather boot scuffed at the cement.

"Thank you, Kate." He said once they were on the sidewalk eighty-six stories below. The city bustled around them despite the late hour. "For the words."

She looked at him. Open, raw.

"You know you have beautiful eyes?" He continued, staring into them, silently urging her to understand the meaning behind his words. "And have a beautiful mind. It would be a pity to waste it."

She sucked in a stuttered breath, and he leaned down to brush a kiss to her cheek, murmuring in her ear. "Come find me in ten years and I'll thank you properly."

With that he started down the sidewalk but glanced back in time to see her lean against the building, lip caught between her teeth, eyes trained on him. She nodded once and then turned to walk the opposite way, disappearing into the New York night.

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10 Years Later

"Mr. Castle?"

Castle turned, pen poised. "Where would you like it?"

His well-practiced smile fell when the badge flashed in his face, but those eyes…

"Kate Beckett, NYPD," she continued, but her gaze darted to his lips and a smirk pulled at her own, threatening to break free. "I have to ask you some questions about a murder that took place earlier tonight."

His grin grew. He knew those eyes.

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A/N2: Flew beta free on this one so any mistakes are my own. Turned out a little different from the prompt but I hope you enjoyed. Thanks, Lou. This was fun. :)


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